The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (50 page)

The mage cursed under her
breath and Simon squinted into the mirror, trying to see what had
startled her.

“
It's Liliana. Look,
she's just standing there. I thought she was with Malcolm's group.”

Simon adjusted the view to
look over Tamara's shoulder and he could see Liliana silhouetted just
on the edge of the forest. The castle was beyond her, several miles
away and the paladin just seemed to be staring at it, statue-like.

Simon forgot about her at
the sight of the castle's newest resident.

“
What the hell?”
he muttered.

It was, without a doubt,
the primal red dragon. The creature was actually draped across the
battlements of Nottinghill, its massive wings outstretched to cover
the castle from one side to the other.

“
How big is it?”
he wondered in amazement.

“
Too big for us to
even attempt to fight,” Tamara said bitterly.

Liliana must have heard
them because she spun around and saw the mage and Simon's projected
image.

“
Ah, you are here,”
she said to him as she walked back, her armor clanking faintly. “I
was hoping we could speak with you.”

“
Any clue about
what's happening?” Simon asked her as she joined Tamara. He
watched the distant spectacle as he spoke.

The primal's head swung
back and forth, scanning the lands around the castle constantly. It
was almost black against the darkening sky and its huge yellow eyes
burned in hellish contrast.

Was it waiting for a
counterattack, he wondered.

“
None. I waited for
everyone to retreat before I followed them out,” Liliana said
as she turned back to stare at the distant castle. “Once I did,
I decided to skirt the edges of the trees to keep an eye on that
monster. I cannot discern its motivation. If it wanted to destroy us,
why did it allow the people time to retreat to safety? And why is it
now just squatting there like an enormous gargoyle?”

Simon watched the dragon,
wracking his brain for some answer. None of the primals he had faced
had been anything but hostile and aggressive, but this thing was just
lolling there like a lazy house cat.

“
Any ideas?”
Tamara asked both of them.

“
Not from me.
Simon?”

He glanced at Aeris, who
was looking into the mirror over his shoulder. The elemental shrugged
helplessly.

“
Nope. But there's
one way to find out, I suppose.”

“
Which is?”
the mage asked doubtfully.

“
Ask him.”

“
Ask who?”

“
Pyrathius
,
of course. The primal red. I can use the mirror to project my image
over there and talk to him.”

“
You didn't mention
its name before,” Liliana said with surprise.

“
That's because I
only learned of it when I spoke to Esmiralla.” He hesitated.
“You do know about her, don't you?”

“
I do. Tamara told
me about her. She told all of us in the command group. It is good to
know that we have such an ally.”

“
Not much of one
though, is she?” Tamara said. “All she's done is pass on
some information. Big deal.”

“
She warned us,”
the paladin retorted. “We would have known nothing about the
dragon queen being woken up if it hadn't been for her.”

“
Yes, but a fat lot
of good that does us. Look at that thing over there,” she said
pointing at the dragon. “We can't even chance an attack against
it. How will we ever deal with the queen? God, it's hopeless.”

“
Thanks for the pep
talk,” Simon told her and when she glared at him, he winked.

Tamara smiled reluctantly.

“
Sorry. That was a
bit defeatist, wasn't it? So, you think that thing will speak to
you?”

“
He might, if I tell
him who I am. I was involved in the deaths of his siblings, after
all. It won't make him like me, but perhaps it will get his
attention.”

“
Of that, I am
sure,” Liliana stated.

Simon stood up at the
table and walked across to the door. He left the tower and moved to
sit on the steps in the sunlight. Somehow the idea of speaking with
the primal red dragon indoors didn't feel right.

Aeris joined him and
watched quietly.

“
Okay then,”
he said to Tamara and Liliana. “Here I go. Wish me luck.”

He focused on the distant
image of the dragon and willed himself toward it. Suddenly Simon had
a weird sensation of bilocation. He knew that he was sitting outside
of his home far away but at the same time seemed to be floating above
the ground shooting straight at the waiting dragon.

The distance zoomed by in
a blur and in seconds the wizard was hovering above the ground at the
height of the castle walls. The primal must have seen him approaching
because its blazing eyes pinned him like twin spotlights out of the
darkness.

Simon stopped about fifty
yards from the monster. Any closer and he couldn't have seen its
entire head. He regarded the dragon and it, in turn, examined him.

“
So, is it the
dragon killer?” the creature said, its voice a hollow boom of
sound. “Simon O'Toole?”

“
Pyrathius,”
Simon acknowledged loudly.

“
Ah, you know my
name? How unexpected. How ever did you learn it, I wonder.”

The wizard had no
intention of telling the primal about Esmiralla's existence and
remained silent.

The dragon raised his head
a few dozen feet and narrowed his blazing eyes.

“
I knew that if I
took possession of this place, you would appear. How did you enjoy my
little deception?”

“
Your illusion? Very
convincing.”

Pyrathius bared his
hideous fangs and seemed pleased with himself.

“
Was it? Good. Good.
It has been many a year since I have used my skills in such a way.
Not since our battles against the lawful dragons. Now there was a
conflict worthy of songs.”

Simon listened with
surprise. The red dragon seemed almost lyrical as he reminisced. What
an odd creature.

“
So why are you
here?” he asked.

“
Why? Because I
wished to speak with you, of course.” Those twin beams of light
widened. “Why else? This hovel holds no interest for me. I
could level it and destroy the insects who dwell here if I chose to,
but I do not.”

Pyrathius grinned evilly.

“
Not today, at
least. No, you and I must parlay.”

“
Parlay?”

Simon was at a loss. He
had spoken with some of the primals but none had done anything but
boast and threaten. They hadn't actually wanted to talk. What was
going on?

“
About what?”

“
My queen,”
the primal said with a heavy hiss of fury. “The mother of my
species.”

“
The yellow dragon?”
Simon blurted out.

The massive head shot
forward, filling his vision and causing the wizard to fly backwards
in surprise.

“
How do you know of
her?” the dragon snarled. “Where are you getting your
information?”

Simon watched him
cautiously from a safe distance. He assumed that Pyrathius couldn't
actually harm him, but it almost felt like he was there with the
dragon and his heart was racing with fear.

“
We humans know a
lot more about you and your kind than you think we do,” he said
with bravado. “You underestimate us, just as your siblings did
before you.” He paused and added. “Your dead siblings.”

The primal didn't rise to
the bait, something else that surprised Simon.

“
Perhaps we do,”
Pyrathius mused. “After all, my four brothers are dead. And you
live. There must be a reason for this.”

The dragon rose up and
lifted his immense wings. He shook them with a sound like thunder and
settled down again.

“
But enough of that.
We may not have much time. She may discover this meeting and, if she
does, I do not know how she will respond.”

“
She? You mean the
queen?”

“
The queen, yes. She
has risen.” He narrowed his eyes and focused on Simon with
laser-like precision. “The gods who created us have gone mad,
wizard. Mad! They have reached down into the depths of the world,
deeper than even the dwarven folk would dare to go, and pulled her to
the surface. She had been awakened! In their fear, they have doomed
this world and perhaps themselves as well.”

“
I don't understand
you,” Simon told the primal red dragon. “You didn't wake
her?”

“
I? Wake that
monstrosity?”

Pyrathius laughed, a harsh
grating sound like massive fingernails on a blackboard.

“
I have not got that
kind of power, and if I did, I would not use it to awaken an
unstoppable force like the queen. The Chaos lords have truly lost
their minds.”

“
But why? Why would
they do that?”

“
Come forward, Simon
O'Toole and meet me here on the battlements. We must speak more
privately.”

Simon stared at the primal
in confusion. There wasn't enough room to move to the walls of the
castle with that tremendous body resting there. What was the dragon
talking about?

And then, in the blink of
an eye, the primal had disappeared.

“
What?” the
wizard gasped and looked around frantically.

How could something that
gigantic suddenly vanish.

A movement from the castle
walls caught his attention and Simon moved forward. Someone was
standing on the battlements and motioned for him to join them.

He flew forward and landed
on the wall. Standing nearby was a man-shaped creature. Man-shaped
but not a man.

Eight feet tall and
covered in blood-red plate armor, a pale face glared down at him with
yellow eyes.

“
Pyrathius?”
Simon asked hesitantly.

“
Indeed,” the
primal said. The voice had the same savage tone, but was now at a
normal volume. “We can speak quietly now.”

“
How did you do
that?” the wizard asked, gesturing at the primal's body.

“
I have more powers
than you know, human. This is one I rarely choose to exercise.”
He looked down at himself and sneered. “For good reason. Now
let us be quick. I can feel the queen searching for me. I cannot
remain here much longer.”

“
Why is she looking
for you?”

The primal stepped forward
and glared down at him.

“
Because, you fool,
she wants to destroy me. For one who claims to know so much about my
kind, you do not know as much as you think. We, the five first-born,
turned on our mother ages ago. She wanted to purge this world of all
life and rebuild it in her own twisted image. We could not allow
that. So we joined with the dark gods to imprison her for all
eternity, or so we thought, and leave her to rot in the center of the
world. Now she seeks retribution on me before she turns her wrath on
you and your kind.”

He took another menacing
step forward and Simon backed away quickly.

“
If you had not
killed my brothers, we might have been able to contain her ourselves.
But now, I alone cannot.”

The wizard was reeling.
Too much information, too fast. He couldn't seem to grasp what he was
hearing.

“
But then, why would
the gods of Chaos unleash her?”

“
As I said, they are
afraid. They are losing their grip on this plane. You have managed to
delay their entrance into this world for so long that they are
weakening from the strain of maintaining the connection. They are
being drawn back into the Void. Should that happen, they will never
have the strength to return to the physical world and will be trapped
out in the great darkness forever. Even worse, from their point of
view, is that the lords of Light will be able to return to your
universe and will exist here unopposed. That is something that the
dark gods will never allow and so they have raised the queen. The
fools! They may have doomed us all.”

“
I'm finding all of
this hard to believe,” Simon told him cautiously. “But
let's say that it is true. What do you want from me?”

“
Your aid, of
course. We must join forces and stop the queen while she is still
gathering her strength. She is comparatively weak right now and so
she is vulnerable. If we strike hard and fast, we might be able to
imprison her again and save this world.”

“
Really? And
afterwards?”

“
Afterwards?”

The primal smiled, his
mouth a horror of glistening fangs.

“
Well, afterwards we
can, perhaps, come to some sort of arrangement. It is a big world, is
it not? We could divide it. Your people could take a portion and mine
could as well. An honest and equitable agreement. What could be
fairer than that?”